346 research outputs found
Residual strain in free-standing CdTe nanowires overgrown with HgTe
We investigate the crystal properties of CdTe nanowires overgrown with HgTe.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and scanning transmission electron
microscopy (STEM) confirm, that the growth results in a high ensemble
uniformity and that the individual heterostructures are single-crystalline,
respectively. We use high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) to investigate
strain, caused by the small lattice mismatch between the two materials. We find
that both CdTe and HgTe show changes in lattice constant compared to the
respective bulk lattice constants. The measurements reveal a complex strain
pattern with signatures of both uniaxial and shear strains present in the
overgrown nanowires
Fine structure of "zero-mode" Landau levels in HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells
HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells with the inverted band structure have been probed
using far infrared magneto-spectroscopy. Realistic calculations of Landau level
diagrams have been performed to identify the observed transitions.
Investigations have been greatly focused on the magnetic field dependence of
the peculiar pair of "zero-mode" Landau levels which characteristically split
from the upper conduction and bottom valence bands, and merge under the applied
magnetic field. The observed avoided crossing of these levels is tentatively
attributed to the bulk inversion asymmetry of zinc blend compounds.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Temperature-driven transition from a semiconductor to a topological insulator
We report on a temperature-induced transition from a conventional
semiconductor to a two-dimensional topological insulator investigated by means
of magnetotransport experiments on HgTe/CdTe quantum well structures. At low
temperatures, we are in the regime of the quantum spin Hall effect and observe
an ambipolar quantized Hall resistance by tuning the Fermi energy through the
bulk band gap. At room temperature, we find electron and hole conduction that
can be described by a classical two-carrier model. Above the onset of quantized
magnetotransport at low temperature, we observe a pronounced linear
magnetoresistance that develops from a classical quadratic low-field
magnetoresistance if electrons and holes coexist. Temperature-dependent bulk
band structure calculations predict a transition from a conventional
semiconductor to a topological insulator in the regime where the linear
magnetoresistance occurs.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Nonverbal behavior during standardized interviews in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders
Several studies have consistently shown that patients with schizophrenia or schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) can be distinguished from normal controls on the basis of their nonverbal behavior during standardized interviews, with considerable interactions between negative symptoms and poor facial expressivity. However, most studies have examined unmedicated patients, and gender of both interviewer and interviewee has not been taken into account. In this study we assessed the nonverbal behavior of male and female patients with SSD who were receiving second-generation antipsychotic medication (SGA) using the Ethological Coding System for Interviews (Troisi, 1998). In addition, we used a novel 5-factor model of the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS, van der Gaag et al., 2006) to correlate nonverbal behavior with standard psychopathology ratings. Our findings strongly resembled results of previous studies into nonverbal behavior of patients with SSD, despite differences in cultural backgrounds and gender of the interviewer. Negative symptoms were inversely correlated with several of the nonverbal behavioral dimensions. Medication dose did not correlate with any one of the behavioral or psychopathological measures. Patients with SSD make less use of their nonverbal behavioral repertoire compared with controls, independent of antipsychotic treatment. Culture-specific nonverbal expressivity seems to play an additional (minor) role in distinguishing patients from healthy controls
Magneto-optics of massive Dirac fermions in bulk Bi2Se3
We report on magneto-optical studies of Bi2Se3, a representative member of
the 3D topological insulator family. Its electronic states in bulk are shown to
be well described by a simple Dirac-type Hamiltonian for massive particles with
only two parameters: the fundamental bandgap and the band velocity. In a
magnetic field, this model implies a unique property - spin splitting equal to
twice the cyclotron energy: Es = 2Ec. This explains the extensive
magneto-transport studies concluding a fortuitous degeneracy of the spin and
orbital split Landau levels in this material. The Es = 2Ec match differentiates
the massive Dirac electrons in bulk Bi2Se3 from those in quantum
electrodynamics, for which Es = Ec always holds.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures and Supplementary materials, to be published in
Physical Review Letter
Interplay of chiral and helical states in a Quantum Spin Hall Insulator lateral junction
We study the electronic transport across an electrostatically-gated lateral
junction in a HgTe quantum well, a canonical 2D topological insulator, with and
without applied magnetic field. We control carrier density inside and outside a
junction region independently and hence tune the number and nature of 1D edge
modes propagating in each of those regions. Outside the 2D gap, magnetic field
drives the system to the quantum Hall regime, and chiral states propagate at
the edge. In this regime, we observe fractional plateaus which reflect the
equilibration between 1D chiral modes across the junction. As carrier density
approaches zero in the central region and at moderate fields, we observe
oscillations in resistance that we attribute to Fabry-Perot interference in the
helical states, enabled by the broken time reversal symmetry. At higher fields,
those oscillations disappear, in agreement with the expected absence of helical
states when band inversion is lifted.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, supp. ma
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Ultrafast nonlocal collective dynamics of Kane plasmon-polaritons in a narrow-gap semiconductor
The observation of ultrarelativistic fermions in condensed-matter systems has uncovered a cornucopia of novel phenomenology as well as a potential for effective ultrafast light engineering of new states of matter. While the nonequilibrium properties of two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) hexagonal crystals have been studied extensively, our understanding of the photoinduced dynamics in 3D single-valley ultrarelativistic materials is, unexpectedly, lacking. Here, we use ultrafast scanning near-field optical spectroscopy to access and control nonequilibrium large-momentum plasmon-polaritons in thin films of a prototypical narrow-bandgap semiconductor Hg0.81Cd0.19Te. We demonstrate that these collective excitations exhibit distinctly nonclassical scaling with electron density characteristic of the ultrarelativistic Kane regime and experience ultrafast initial relaxation followed by a long-lived highly coherent state. Our observation and ultrafast control of Kane plasmon-polaritons in a semiconducting material using light sources in the standard telecommunications fiber-optics window open a new avenue toward high-bandwidth coherent information processing in next-generation plasmonic circuits
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